Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ soccer teams in action. Upper Dublin/New Hope-Solebury photos provided courtesy of Karla Donohoe. Check back for a gallery of photos. All SOS photo galleries for BOYS’ SOCCER can be viewed by clicking HERE.
SOL Liberty-Freedom Crossovers
Cheltenham 2, Quakertown 1 (OT)
It’s been a frustrating season for Cheltenham, to the tune of 10 straight losses to start the season. Wednesday night, it went on the road and won a night game in overtime over Quakertown.
“The kids are pretty excited,” said Cheltenham coach Bill Tonkin. “They got a little overexcited at the end of the game with the celebration. I had to pull them back in a little bit.
“It was a very good win, finally. It’s been a long season so far. A lot of frustration. Hopefully, this is a little turning point, and we can do some better things the rest of the season.”
What was the difference Wednesday?
“We played together as a team tonight,” Tonkin said. “It was a good effort. We battled adversity tonight. We got a red card in overtime, but it was a good, smart foul and saved a breakaway. I told the kid who took the red card, ‘You just saved the game for us.’
“A minute after the red card, we went down and scored.”
Quakertown actually took a 1-0 lead in the first half on a Ryan Dauter free kick. Cheltenham answered with a goal off a penalty kick that was initially saved in the second half.
“Tonight, we stuck with the game plan and battled through that mistake (on Quakertown’s goal),” Tonkin said. “We earned the PK. Keegan Pete took the PK, missed – the goalie made a great save – it bounced back out and Keegan hit a diving headball to tie the game at 1.
“The second half was fantastic soccer. We put a lot of pressure on them. I thought we might win in regulation, but it didn’t work out.
“Overtime was a struggle. The red card was something we didn’t plan on happening, but the kids rallied around it. They didn’t put their heads down. They didn’t give up.”
Cameron Rhoades scored the game-winner, following up on a shot initially saved by the keeper, to put it away for Cheltenham.
“The whole team really played well,” Tonkin said. “Cole Funk, in the game. He got the red card that saved the game for us. Josh Grady, moved to center back and he’s playing outstanding. His feet are so fast people can’t get by him.”
Tonkin also credited the play of Lincoln Thomason, Noah Jutzi, Xavi Chanoine, Oscar Chaney, Beck Toledo, Zack Rosser, Arlo Scouvner-Kemmerer, Jordan Rodriguez and goalkeeper Jeremiah Montcriffe.
“We’re going to ride this out as far as we can now,” Tonkin said. “We finally found a good group. The best part is we only have one senior. The future is bright for us next year.”
Cheltenham (1-10, 1-9 SOL) hosts Hatboro-Horsham on Friday. Quakertown (1-10, 1-9 SOL) is back home Friday afternoon against New Hope-Solebury.
Cheltenham 0 1 1 – 2
Quakertown 1 0 0 – 1
Hatboro-Horsham 1, Upper Moreland 0
Enrico Romano scored off a Jake Freedman assist in the second half and Hatboro-Horsham emerged from this rivalry-game battle with the shutout win on Wednesday.
“It was a good high school soccer game with fans from both schools,” said H-H coach Kyle McGrath. “Rekindled a little bit of the Hatboro-Horsham/Upper Moreland rivalry.”
Upper Moreland was right there in a scoreless first half.
“Overall, it was a solid first half, a little bit back and forth,” McGrath said. “Neither team was super dangerous. I think we were a little bit rusty because we gave the boys a couple of extra days off over the holiday, so we weren’t quite as sharp as we were hoping we’d be.”
“We talked at halftime to change a few minor things, nothing major, and our guys came out with a bit more intensity in the second half, put pressure on Upper Moreland’s defenders and were able to capitalize in the 65th minute.
“We had a throw-in. It went to Tony, who played it up to Jake Freedman. He dummied the ball around midfield and beat one defender, then won a tackle against a second defender before playing it through to Enrico Romano, who got in behind their outside back, got his head up, saw where the goalkeeper was at a slotted it home near post to give us a 1-0 lead with 15 minutes left.”
Both teams had chances.
“Upper Moreland had a couple of dangerous moments where balls were bouncing around in the box, and you never know what could happen to those, but our guys did a good job taking care of their clearances and getting rid of the danger,” McGrath said.
The Hatters’ coach credited the efforts of several players in the win.
“They man-marked Jake Freedman, and he was still able to create the goal for us,” McGrath said. “Tony Kuhner played pretty much the entire game as a center midfielder and forward. Paul Guevara had a good game in the center midfield for us as well.
“Again my back four – Brian Cooper, Matt Wingen, Jacob Kim and Tommy Shegogue – with the shutout is key, and (goalkeeper) Noah Schlosser continues to make all the saves in goal. We talk all the time – anytime we can get a shutout, we give ourselves a good chance to win, and that was the case tonight.”
It was H-H’s fifth straight win. The Hatters (9-2, 8-2 SOL) play at Cheltenham on Friday. UM (5-7, 3-7 SOL) hosts Plymouth Whitemarsh Friday.
Upper Moreland 0 0 – 0
Hatboro-Horsham 0 1 – 1
Lower Moreland 2, Wissahickon 0
Three crossover losses in a row left Lower Moreland in need of a win on Wednesday, and it picked a big one up against Wissahickon.
“It was a good win for us against a tried and true program in Wissahickon,” said Lions coach Bob Barnhart. “Stu (Malcolm) always has his guys playing tough soccer by the time crossovers come along, and this year was no different. They were pressing and tested our composure on the ball early in the game.
“I thought we had the better of the play in the first half and were able to find the goal. The coaching staff always harps on the fact that it doesn’t matter if you hit a 35-yard, upper 90 screamer or toe-poke one from three yards away, and today we saw that.”
Temur Temirov scored LM’s second goal.
“This was a quality SOL win for us after a rough time with our last three league games,” Barnhart said. “And, hopefully, will give us good momentum going into a huge game on Friday against Upper Dublin.”
LM (7-4, 6-4 SOL) plays at UD on Friday afternoon. Wissahickon (6-5-1, 5-5 SOL) hosts Springfield on Friday.
Wissahickon 0
Lower Moreland 2
Upper Dublin 8, New Hope-Solebury 0
Miles Bondi scored two goals as Upper Dublin ran away from New Hope to keep pace with first-place Abington atop the SOL Liberty Division standings.
Seven different players scored goals for the Flying Cardinals, including Tommy Clayton, Erik Petushi, Dominick Plaku, Christopher McMeel, Campbell Heckler and Jack Stelling.
The visiting Flying Cardinals opened up a 4-0 halftime lead on their way to the decisive win.
“It’s a short season, but it’s a long season,” said UD coach Noah Johnson. “People are dropping like flies everywhere – it’s not just our team, so it’s definitely important to get the guys who don’t play much some time.
“We also want to get heavy minutes with our starting guys, making sure that they’re not starting to jump off the wagon or go into important games with a relaxed attitude. Everyone played pretty well.”
UD (9-1-1, 8-1-1 SOL) hosts Lower Moreland on Friday. New Hope (2-9, 1-8 SOL) plays at Quakertown
Upper Dublin 4 4 – 8
New Hope 0 0 – 0
Plymouth Whitemarsh 3, William Tennent 1
(Information will be added when it is received.)
SOL Patriot/Colonial Crossovers
North Penn 2, Bensalem 0
Against a Bensalem team that came in playing its best soccer of the season, North Penn broke out with two goals in the second half to post the 2-0 win in a crossover division game.
“We are looking forward to the last six games and, hopefully, our best soccer has yet to come,” said Knights coach Chris DePeppe. “Hope to build on this and keep the pedal down a little bit more, because I think this group is just figuring out how to play together and we may have something to say before this is over.”
Scoreless at halftime, North Penn struck first with a goal by Kyle McKeever.
“He buried the rebound after Connor Sullivan cut inside from the right and first a low hard shot the keeper couldn’t hold,” DePeppe said.
Ryan Miller made it 2-0, “with a very special piece of close control and composure in the box with defenders draped over him,” DePeppe said.
There was plenty of credit to go around.
“Our back line was much improved today, and we controlled play most of the game,” DePeppe said. “In the second half, we did a better job of attacking with numbers and putting pressure on their defenders and we created a few chances from our disruptive play.
“Very good games for Nate Kim, Brian Scott, Kyke McKeever, Dmitri Ilovski, and our sophomores – Dmitri, Ryan, Caden Myers, Cody Perrin and Ian Bialissalissa – are getting a lot of minutes and you can see them developing and getting more comfortable with the pace and physicality.”
North Penn (3-7-1, 2-6-1 SOL) next plays Friday at Harry S. Truman. Bensalem (2-6-1, 2-5-1 SOL) looks to bounce back at home against Pennridge.
Bensalem 0 0 – 0
North Penn 0 2 -2
Central Bucks East 3, Neshaminy 0
Three second-half goals lifted CB East to its fourth straight win as it remained in a first-place tie atop the SOL Colonial Division standings.
The three goals came in a four-minute span, starting with Brandon Epstein in the 51st minute.
“The first half was a really good half, very competitive both ways,” said Patriots coach Josh Isaacsohn. “I thought either team could have put one in, but both teams played great ‘D’ but I thought zeroes was appropriate because we both had our chances.
“We discussed at halftime that coming into the back third of the season – this is where character matters. It was fairly even coming out of the gate. They had some good plays, we had some good plays.
“In the 51st minute, Brandon Epstein stepped up and hit the goal. He had just missed three times in the game before that. He kept working, and he finally saw it through.”
Joey Roth scored goals in the 52nd and 55th minutes, the first off an Epstein assist, the second from Andrew Walloff.
“(Walloff) looked up quickly and noticed that the keeper was out off his line,” Isaacsohn said. “He had tried a couple of times earlier in the game to pop it over his head, but he just hit a beautiful shot in the air way over the goalie’s head. It was just a very heads-up great soccer play.”
That was plenty for the CB East defense, which held off Neshaminy the rest of the way for the shutout win.
“Our defense – Dylan Walker, Luke Christmas, Josh Daniels and Trevor Jopling – really held it down in the back,” Isaacsohn said. “The first half was a little bit too close for comfort, but again, because of our defense, they kept us in there, and our offense started clicking a little bit more.”
Neshaminy coach Tom Foley said he thought it was a pretty even first half.
“The first 10 minutes of the second half were all us,” Foley said. “They scored and we’re down 1-0. Literally 90 seconds later, we give up an even softer goal. We played four bad minutes, and they got three goals and won 3-0. It’s just been a frustrating year. We’ve done some decent things against some of the top teams, and we have absolutely nothing to show for it.
“East is a classy group, and they were classy the whole game. It was a shame we couldn’t play the full 80. We had a breakaway in that 10-minute span early in the second half. If we cash that in, maybe it’s a different story, who knows? We had a bad four minutes, and we could never recover. It’s one of those years.”
Foley credited the efforts of several players.
“Jack Sexton had a good game in the middle in the back for us,” and AJ Kollie, a sophomore in the back, played pretty well,” the Redskins’ coach said. “Josh Anderson was a ball of energy the entire second half, and he had some really good opportunities and just couldn’t cash in. One of these times, they’ll get lucky, and we’ll get a lucky bounce here and there, but we’re just struggling right now.”
Central Bucks East (9-3,8-2 SOL) will host Council Rock North on Friday (7 p.m.), and Neshaminy (2-8, 1-8) will host Central Bucks West on Friday.
CB East 0 3 – 3
Neshaminy 0 0 – 0
Central Bucks West 1, Pennsbury 0
Carter Philo scored the game’s only goal, as CB West emerged with a key win at home on Community Youth Night at War Memorial Field.
“We had a great turnout from all the local soccer clubs,” said Bucks coach Cooper Moyer. “The youth teams were loud and full of energy all night and did a great job in helping us secure a win in a really tough battle.”
West’s first-half goal gave it the lead for good.
“We were pretty even to open the game,” Moyer said, “and then AJ Rihl played a great ball into space for Ben Sterling to run on to. Ben was never going to be caught and was able to take the ball down to the goal line and slot it back across the face of the goal where we had a few runners coming in. Thankfully, Carter Philo did a great job at holding his run and was able to meet the ball at the back post and shot it in for what turned out to be the game-winner.
“Pennsbury had some really dangerous attacking players, and I thought my back line and goalkeeper did a great job at bending and not breaking. We faced a few corners and long throw-ins and tough shots, but we’re able to keep the clean sheet, which is our third one in a row, so that’s always encouraging to see your team not giving up goals.”
Moyer also credited Eddie Rafalowski, Joey Dowd, Harrison Brownlow, and Blake Bullock, “who absolutely dominated the nice field and did a great job competing and winning balls out of the air,” Moyer said. “Chase Naso gave us some really good minutes at forward and had a few solid chances. It’s been a few games since he has scored for us, but I know it’s coming for him and he’s a good enough player to not get in his own head. I think once he starts finding the net, and we work out a few other small details we will be back to the level of play we expect from this team.”
CB West (6-5-2, 5-4-2 SOL) plays at Neshaminy on Friday. Pennsbury (5-5-1, 5-4-1 SOL) will look to bounce back at home against CB South.
Pennsbury 0 0 – 0
CB West 1 0 – 1
Council Rock North 4, Souderton 3 (2 OT)
First-place CR North needed two overtimes, but Tanmay Ondkar scored the game-winner in a thrilling crossover victory.
“As the teams went into OT, (we) finally woke up and played most of the two periods in the Souderton end,” said CR North coach Joe Stackhouse. “On a counter, North broke out with (Nick) Wise leading the charge along the end line, serving up a cross that fellow senior classmate Ondkar found along the backdoor and placed by Souderton keeper Chris McKenna, who had an excellent showing.”
Souderton went into the game with a four-game winning streak against SOL Patriot Division teams, and it was in position to make it five in a row.
Ryan Jackson scored to make it 1-0 in the first half and then 2-0 on a counter-attack goal by Johnny Argueta. Then after CR North scored twice to tie it – goals by Ari Pollack and Mike Brusca – at 2, Souderton went back in front with an Andrew Kerns goal.
Pollack scored his second goal of the game on a “opposite side panel hit,” according to Stackhouse, setting the stage for the thrilling game-winner in the second overtime.
“North’s comeback was paced by a strong showing in the midfield by senior Max Leff, who logged his most minutes to date and paced North’s attack with Pollack,” Stackhouse said.
CR North (7-2-2, 6-2-2 SOL) has another tough one Friday night at CB East. Souderton (5-6, 5-6 SOL) is off until Monday when it hosts Council Rock South.
Souderton 1 2 0 0 – 3
CR North 0 3 0 1 – 4
Pennridge 1, Council Rock South 0
Needing a win to keep pace with Central Bucks East atop the SOL Colonial Division standings, Pennridge won a thriller Wednesday afternoon, as Luca Angello scored off a corner kick from Troy Thanel and then the Rams held off the Golden Hawks down the stretch.
“Troy Thanel hit a great ball in, and Luca Angello was able to bury it one time for a great finish,” Pennridge coach Pete Valimont said. “We did a really good job of trying to contain them.
“They are a very, very good team. Coach Alan (Nicholl) and his staff have got a really good team this year. I think they’re even stronger than they were last year, and last year they went to states. They are going to be a chore for teams the second half through their conference and in the playoffs.”
Neither team found the net in the first half.
“We were able to hold them off the board. We did give up a couple of point-blank shots that either just missed high or wide, or CJ (Dimmick) did his job and was able to be in the right spot at the right time and make a really big save. A couple of chances for us. Just didn’t have anybody on the backend to get that final touch and touch it in.
“We were very fortunate. With 10-12 seconds left in the first half, a ball got through our defense. They were able to meg us, I believe, and a guy was literally point blank in front of CJ (Dimmick), and Andrew Parlee came out of nowhere and blocked the shot which would have been a possible sure goal because of where the guy was located, so ending the half 0-0, not being down, was good.”
For CR South, it was a game of missed chances.
“Very disappointed with the result,” Nicholl said. “I thought we generated enough offense to get on the scoreboard but missed a lot of chances. Full credit to Pennridge, but I’m sure Pete (Valimont) was glad to hear the full-time whistle.”
Valimont had a lot of credit to give out to his players.
“Our whole back line – Andrew Parlee, Jhoa Hernandez, Tommy McKinney and Shane Velez – did a fantastic job,” he said. “Tommy is a little banged up from the last game but was able to play and just really do a nice job of fighting through some injuries. Roman Arcade rotated in as well, and those guys just did a really nice job.
“The guys in front of them – Luca Angello, Pat Fannon and Chase Rabinowitz – really did a nice job of holding the back line, creating shots that CJ could handle or forcing them to take shots that were wide and didn’t end up hurting us.”
Pennridge (9-2, 8-2 SOL), winners of six straight, plays at Bensalem Friday afternoon. CR South (6-4, 6-3-1 SOL) is off until Monday when it plays at Souderton.
Pennridge 0 1 – 1
CR South 0 0 – 0
Central Bucks South 11, Harry S Truman 0
The Titans notched the decisive shutout win, but the score, according to coach Kyle Petticon, is very deceptive.
“The score line does not reflect the effort and skill from Truman,” the Titans’ coach said. “The Truman attack and midfield never stopped pressing. They did a very good job of getting 3-plus players around the ball at all times. I have never seen a group of kids so passionate and dedicated to carry on right until the end.
“It’s easy to throw in the towel once you’ve let a couple goals in but not these guys. I have nothing but respect for the whole Truman squad who is continuing working hard and playing the sport they love.”
Thijs Popma’s four-goal effort led the Titans while Colin O’Hara and Oleksandr Sokol both had two. Adding one goal each were Sean Rieber, Brayden Roach and Josh Margraff.
Mike Nemec and Justin Margolit combined for the clean sheet.
Central Bucks South (8-3, 7-3 SOL) will host Pennsbury on Friday, and Harry S Truman (0-11, 0-10) will host North Penn Friday.
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